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On Saturday 2 July 2005 a group of 16 Senni residents and a few visitors carried out a small survey of the plants which make-up some of the hedges around our valley. The survey was intended to find out whether the hedges contained plants of particular interest and to see if we could identify hedges of different ages and origins.
Mike Porter from Llangyndr, who is the local Botanical Recorder, addressed the group about the value of our hedgerows and the kind of things we should look out for. We then dispersed to three areas of the valley – close to Gorslŵyd Farm, towards Pant-y-ffordd and the Neuadd Farms and at the lower end of the Brychgoed Chapel Road, where two teams were to work.
The technique was as described in the 'Hedgerow Survey Book. A standard procedure for local surveys in the UK'.
The teams surveyed a series of 42 lengths of hedge, each 30m long, recording the hedgerow woody species they found in each section.
The lists of species were then collated and the sections marked on an air-photograph of the valley.
The detailed results, in an Excel spreadsheet, show the special nature of the Senni hedgerows.
Bird Cherry, which adds a beautiful dash of white to our lanes each spring, was found to be unusually common. The dominance of hawthorn did not surprise us – since it is intentionally planted to create a thick, stock-proof barrier. Hazel was also very common and may have been likewise intentionally planted to provide nuts in autumn.
The frequency of beech in our hedges, however, is unusual – found here near the westerly limit of its range in Britain.
There were some clear differences between the numbers of species found in each section of hedge. A recently planted hedge near Gorslŵyd Farm contained only rose and hawthorn while those on the lane leading uphill towards Brychgoed Chapel were made up of as many as 12 species, which suggests that they are much older.
There is clearly a lot more work to be done researching our hedgerows – a job made all the more interesting and relevant because the Senni Valley is home to world-record-beating hedge-layers and a long tradition of hedgerow care.
These first, very preliminary results should encourage us all to look at our hedges again.
David Jordan and Christine Havard, who organised the survey and welcome comments or suggestions on the survey, would like to thank all who gave up their time, on a damp afternoon (when we could have been watching the tennis) to make the survey a success. We would especially like to thank Mike Porter for his very helpful guidance.
Updated 03/07/2020